The Dead Of The Night
by Kidcomfy
Summary: This is a Halloween horror story.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Third Watch  
  
Author's note: Happy Halloween.  
  
~The Dead Of The Night~  
  
~Wednesday, two days 'till Halloween  
  
Autumn comes, bringing with it a cool fresh feeling of change. The time of year when you get to wear your old comfortable sweaters again, perfumed with the scent of cedar. The kids go back to school, and the city is skirted with a fringe of color as the leaves change. This is Faith's favorite time of the year. Each year at this time, she and Fred load the kids in the car and cruise through upstate New York to see the fall foliage.   
  
But Bosco looks at it differently. To him, autumn is an ending. The days get shorter, the nights get colder, and the leaves die and blow around the city like litter. Then it ends with the worst night of the year...Halloween. Even as a child...Bosco hated Halloween. Like there wasn't enough to be afraid of in the world...people dress up as goblins and prowl around in the dark, scaring kids and causing mayhem all over the city.   
  
All the freaks come out.   
  
He spent so many nights of his childhood cowering in the dark...cowering from a real monster that was his father. Listening from the dark corner of his closet, to the horror of his father's angry ranting, the sound of the house being torn apart as he hunted down his family inside, and then the screams in the black void beyond as he found them.   
  
He lived through it, grew beyond it...but it's still there within him...whispering it's presence in the dead of the night.   
  
***  
  
55-David are on patrol. Bosco is driving as Faith fills out a report form about the last call they responded to.   
  
"Are you done with that report already?" Bosco asks surprised.  
  
"Almost." She answers him without looking up.  
  
"Make sure that you emphasize how crazy that witch lady was." Bosco instructs her.  
  
"I did."   
  
"Don't leave anything out."  
  
She gives him an annoyed glance. "I know what I'm doing."  
  
"I don't want her to be released from Belleview with only a physical. I don't want to see her back on the street. Make sure they know they have to keep her."  
  
"Do you want to finish this yourself?" She says getting annoyed.  
  
"No...but don't forget to say how she threw that pumpkin at our RMP, and write in there, that she attacked me with her broomstick."  
  
"I put in that she is mentally disturbed and a possible danger to herself and others. That should do it. They'll know the minute they examine her."   
  
"Don't you think these details are important?" He says in a huff.  
  
"Yah...but it don't fit. And since when do you care what goes into a report, that you didn't have to write?" She says raising her voice.  
  
"Alright don't get your knickers in a knot, I'm only tryen to help."  
  
She looks at him for a moment, then decides not to let him get under her skin. She shakes her head and turns her attention back to what she was doing.  
  
"Look at that jag-off." Bosco says pointing.  
  
"Where?" Faith asks, looking up from the report.  
  
"There...driving in the ghoul outfit."  
  
"It's almost Halloween. He's probably going to a party."  
  
"I'm pulling him over." He gives him a quick blare of the siren.  
  
"Why? What'd he do?"  
  
"He's a moron, that's what he did."  
  
"Bosco..." She doesn't finish her statement. He's been in a bad mood for the past few days, and there is no talking to him when he gets like this.  
  
Bosco walks briskly up to the car, leans down to the window and raps on it with his knuckles. The power window goes down, and the head of the driver slowly turns in his direction. Bosco finds himself nose to nose with a rubber mask, molded in the face of the phantom of the opera, frozen in a lifeless look of horror, mouth open in an anguished scream.  
  
"Boo." The man says calmly. A burst of laughter resounds from the spaceman and the monkey riding in the back seat.   
  
Although Bosco is expecting to see the mask, something about the way it turns to him, dreadfully slow...something in the fact that the eyes are real, but the face has no human expression...makes him feel creepy. He shivers, as an eerie feeling runs down his spine, as slight as a spider crawling on your hair...a momentary sensation of fear, that you need to shake off of you quickly. He instinctively, overreacts with anger.   
  
"Out of the car...now!" he screams at the young man.  
  
The guy starts to open his door, and Bosco grabs it, flinging it open. He reaches into the car in a blind fury, grabs him by the shirt and pulls him out, jacking him up against the back window, and ripping the mask off his head. "You think this is a joke?" he hollers at the guy, who...when unmasked, appears to be about sixteen years old.  
  
"Hey...take it easy...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to scare you officer." He mutters innocently, holding his hands in the air, and hiding behind them.   
  
"Scare me! Scare Me? You little pin head...I'll show ya scared." he threatens. Bosco pulls the kid forward and spins him around to the back of the car, and slams him face down on the trunk, and bounces his face a few times to emphasize his anger.  
  
"Bosco...Bosco, let him go!" Faith yells, hurrying around the car, and pulling him away from the boy by his arm. She shoves him out of ear shot and whispers "What the hell is wrong with you?"  
  
He glares at her for a second, then he relaxes, looking a little embarrassed. He knows his reaction was unwarranted. "The kid has a smart mouth." he says, lying to justify what he did.   
  
"Well what do ya wanna do with him? We can't arrest him for that."  
  
"I don't know, just...just let him go." He answers, waving his hand at the car in disgust.  
  
**  
  
Soon they are back on patrol, and Faith breaks the awkward silence by asking, "Is everything ok? You've been really on edge lately."  
  
"Yah...everything's fine. The kid just mouthed off to me...that's all. Pissed me off."  
  
"Well...what did he say?"  
  
"Never mind...I'm not gonna repeat it." He's too ashamed to make eye contact with her but a few minutes later he hears her chuckle and he glances over. Her face is leaning casually on her hand and she's gazing out the window, laughing to herself and grinning.   
  
"What?" He says annoyed, figuring that she must be laughing at him.  
  
She lets out a small laugh and looks back at him. "When I let that kid go...I apologized to him, and told him we made a mistake. That he matched the description of someone we were looking for." She pauses, and laughs. "He said he understood." She squints her eyes and laughs a little harder.  
  
"Yah...why is that funny?"  
  
"He was wearing a mask when you stopped him...who did he think we were looking for...Lon Chaney?"   
  
******  
  
Three hours into their shift it is already dark and the wind has picked up threatening to bring rain. That is the topic of Bosco's complaining, when Faith interrupts him.  
  
"What does this jackass want?" she says as more of a statement than a question.  
  
Bosco looks over, and sees a guy on the sidewalk trying to flag them down. He pulls up to the curb as Faith rolls her window down to talk to him.  
  
A blast of cold air blows through the car, causing her to shiver. "What's wrong sir?"  
  
"It's down here." He says in a heavy New York accent. His seems hurried as he waves and turns, ready to lead them to whatever 'it' is.   
  
"Hold on...what's down there?" she hollers into the wind.  
  
"I can't believe you got here dis fast. Dat's great...It's freeken cold out here." He starts walking away unaware that she is talking to him.  
  
"Sir...stop...and tell me what you're talking about." She yells, as the wind once again carries her voice away.  
  
He turns back, "What?" and walks up to the car again, stuffing his hands into his pockets and shrinking his head down into the collar of his coat. He bends over to look in the window and asks, "Are you comen or what? I'm freezen my calzones off out here."  
  
"What exactly is the problem?" Why did you stop us?" She growls.  
  
"I found a stiff...down there." He shouts, pointing with a nod of his head, keeping his hands warm in his pockets. "I called 911."  
  
She glances back at Bosco. "Should we follow this goof? We didn't get a dispatch."  
  
"Let's check 'him' out first...in the car" Just then the radio puts out a call for them to 'see the man about a body' and it gives the location they are parked in front of.   
  
"Crap." she mutters, pulling her jacket up around her neck as she gets out of the car. Then it starts to rain. It's a cold, wind blown rain that sprays in your face then changes direction and then in your face again. The kind that drenches you instantly.  
  
"Hey...why don't I wait here while you check it out? No point in both of us getting wet." Bosco calls as she closes the door.  
  
She bends down to the window, and answers him with a glare...her hair already wet and stuck to the side of her face.   
  
"Ok, ok. I'm coming." Then he grumbles something illegible as he zips up his coat and climbs out to follow her.  
  
Faith asks the guy a bunch of questions as they walk with him towards the body. They stop at the mans feet, shining their lights on him. "Jesus." Is all Bosco can muster to say. And at the same time, there is a bolt of lightning followed instantly by an earth shaking boom of thunder, flickering the scene to light in true horror movie style. All three of them duck.   
  
The victim looks to be in his fifties or older, sprawled on his back. He's been stripped of his jacket, shirt and shoes. He is wearing tattered pants and a dirty undershirt that looks too small for him. The rain soaked shirt clings tightly to his bloated belly, and through it can be see numerous bruises, darker then the death blue color of his skin.  
  
His eyes are open in a haunted stare, and his mouth is open, as if rigger mortis set in as he said his last word. The few teeth he has stand out like pickets, around his blackened gums. The fatal blow must have been to the temple, which is caved in. The skin is peeled back at the wound, as is the flesh, exposing the shattered bone, now rain-washed white.  
  
Faith calls in to central that they need the coroner and a detective. Bosco wanders off with his light, searching for any other clues before the rain washes them away.  
  
Faith crouches down, and looks the body over with her flash light. "Hey Bos...look at this."  
  
"No thanks...I don't want to look at it again."  
  
"This guy has bite marks on his arm."   
  
"It's probably rats." He says, wandering back over out of curiosity.  
  
"No...they're not nibbles...they're teeth marks, like human teeth."  
  
"Maybe he did it himself. These people are all crazy." Then he shines his light on the man's face again.  
  
"He don't have enough teeth to have done this himself...what do you think?" Faith asks.  
  
"What do I think? I think if I was down to my last three teeth, I take better care of them then he did." He wanders back off into the alley to search around the dumpster. Next to the dumpster he finds a large box. The outside is littered with empty liquor bottles, and the front of it has a slit cut in it for a door.   
  
"I think I found where he lives." he says disgusted. The flap is closed, but protruding through it about two feet off the ground, is a wooden handle. "Hey...I think I may have found the murder weapon too."  
  
Faith stands up and shines her light over to him. "What do ya got?"  
  
"Looks like an ax handle." He crouches down and gives it a pull, but it doesn't budge. "It's caught on something." Setting his light down, he grabs it with both hands and pulls hard.   
  
It pulls out of the box, and throws Bosco off balance, knocking him to the ground. And with it comes the object it was stuck into, bursting the flap open and landing on top of Bosco, wrapping him up and pinning him to the ground.  
  
"Ahh...Faith! Help...get him off me. Faith...get him off!"   
  
At first sight it looked to Faith as though someone lunged at Bosco from inside the box. She runs to help him, but as she gets close, she momentarily stops in horror when she sees what it really is.  
  
A body, frozen in rigor in a crouched position, is straddling Bosco cheek to cheek, the ax still embedded in it's head, and it's face covered with dried blood that the rain is turning into a dark sticky ooze.  
  
Bosco's legs are kicking frantically from underneath, and his arms are trying to lift two hundred and fifty pounds of bloated, dead weight off of himself. Faith pulls the body from it's side and rolls it off of Bosco, who quickly leaps to his feet and starts brushing himself off as if to shed the horror.  
  
They stare at the body teetering on it's back, arms and legs bent and pointing skyward with the ax dividing his face evenly. Bosco is pacing quickly in circles, swearing and shaking himself off, like the body is still on him.  
  
"Are you alright Bos?" She asks hiding a grin.  
  
"God Damn it! I hate that. Oh man...I thought I was a goner. Auh...it was all over me."  
  
Faith tries not to laugh, but she can't help it.   
  
He calms down once the detectives arrive, and tries to act real cool about it in front of them. She lets him explain to the detectives, how without concern for the rain and lightning, he bravely searched in the dark alley and found the second body.  
  
Then she mentions to him quietly, "You still got some dead guy on your face." then she smiles, as she watches him go back into his 'get it off me' frenzy.  
  
***  
  
The next chapter will be posted Tomorrow afternoon  
  
*** 


	2. Chapter 2

~The Dead Of The Night~  
  
~Thursday, the day before Halloween 4:29 p.m.  
  
He stands there at the top of the stairs, gazing down at the meandering group beneath him. They wander through this closed down factory like shoppers at a flea market, picking through everything, touching every object they see, keeping some, tossing others back. Some waging a tug-of-war, the stronger willed winning, the weaker staggering off mumbling to themselves.   
  
A strong contrast to the life he commanded on Wall Street only two years ago. His expensive suit is now worn with wear, the only item of value he wears is the crested ring on his right hand, with a king cut diamond in the center, surrounded by his embossed initials, R. D.. He softly taps the ring on the hand rail as he watches them...his family.  
  
Someone pulls a board from a window, and the sun shoots into the room, piercing the dark like a spotlight, catching the dust rising from the floor, giving substance to the smell of dampness rising to his nostrils. His mind explodes back in time...the sounds, the smell, the smoke thickening to dust. Choking him...like the neck ties he used to wear...like his old life.   
  
9/11 changed his life. It changed many lives...and ended many lives. Including his. He was in tower one when the planes hit. He had been on the thirty second floor. They were told not to evacuate. He waited...almost too long. He made the decision at that moment...to leave. Not just the building...everything. He realized he hated his job...he was suffocating in it. He certainly didn't want to loose his life over it.  
  
He was on the last flight of stairs over looking the lobby, desperately trying to reach the exit, when tower two fell. His existence ended with a roar so loud, it made the building tremble beneath his feet. He sat on the stairs...terrified...holding the handrail for dear life. Too afraid to move. He watched in horror as tower two crash through the windows, reaching for him. Trying to crush him to death. Then, not giving up in it's failure, it instead tried to bury him alive. There was sudden darkness, followed by minutes of silence.  
  
In those minutes, he saw the reflection of himself dying for a job that was killing him. How ironic. Then the agonizing sounds of hell. The moaning all around him in the dark. Desperate wails of people...trying to recover from an experience no one had encountered before. His mind processed all of this as death. What ever was happening...surly no one will survive it. Holding the rail, he stumbled through the dark in the direction he instinctively knew to be towards an exit, never expecting to find one.   
  
He got to a door, but couldn't tell if he had reached the outside or not. He stumbled along slowly, stepping on and over things...arms stretched out feeling for...he didn't know what, but he finally heard someone calling to come towards his voice. He was then pulled into another building, where he could see through the dust. The zombie like sounds, were now taking shape. People standing...meandering around in shock...faces white with dust, lined with the tracks of tears as they ran down the ash on their faces, giving them and even eerier appearance.  
  
After Tower one fell he walked out...wearing his death face...like ashes to ashes...and he never went back. He let himself be declared dead...a victim of 9/11, because, after all...he was. He spent the night in the basement of a building, and that has been his home ever since.   
  
The building really has two floors of basement. The first one down is were the furnace, hot water heater, washer and dryer, and storage rooms are, for the tenants. The second basement below the laundry rooms, he found behind a door that had been padlocked and boarded up by the landlord. It was actually built for storing coal for the original coal burning furnace that had been replaced probably a hundred years ago. It is a damp, dirt floored room, that extends the full length of the building, and is kept warm in the winter from the water pipes running under the floor above.   
  
He found he could access the room from the outside through the old coal shaft, with a metal stairs directly below it get out. After living there a week, he learned that the landlord had died on 9/11 and the building had been put up for sale. Before a new landlord could buy it and find his secret room behind the padlocked door in the first basement, he pulled a bookcase in front of the door, and nailed it permanently to the wall, covering it for good.   
  
The sound of a car horn, pulls him out of his thoughts. He opens the door behind him and looks out at the street. Traffic is getting heavier. It must be getting near five o'clock. They need to leave. He looks down in the corner at the bodies laying there, bloodied and broken, to see if there are any signs of life. There is none. He whistles down to his family below.  
  
"It's time to go." He calls out. Then he slips through the door and leaves.   
  
Slowly they wander to the steps in groups of two or three. They also leave, and follow him to the coal-basement they call home. All of them, nine total, with a story similar to his, trying to make it in the working class, but for their own reasons they couldn't make it. All of them have mental health problems, and all of them are uneducated and can not hold a job, and ended up on the streets with no where to go. He hand selected just the right people to join his family. The ones he could teach... that are sane enough to understand the rules and smart enough to share...the ones that would be loyal.   
  
He organized them. He taught them there is safety in numbers, but also, for them there is danger in numbers. If they gather in a large group, they will stand out as a pack. They will look to be a threat. They will not be unnoticed. The authorities will take action against them. So he taught them to work as a group, but travel in pairs. Be far enough from each other so they don't look together, but close enough to come together if one pair is threatened.  
  
They take care of each other, sharing everything they find. Some are designated to find food, visiting dumpsters behind different restaurants and diners. Others spend their days searching for discarded items, and bringing them back to their fortress. They steal from other street people, raiding the many havens, hidden all over the city, because they are easy to rob and no one will miss them if they have to kill for what they want. They keep the items they need, and things they don't need, he takes to pawn shops, bartering for cash, to buy them liquor, drugs, smokes and an occasional meal.   
  
He walks down an alley way, secure in knowing that not far behind him is his family, because ahead of him in the alley are two men sharing a bottle and watching him approach. He works his way to the opposite side of the alley to pass them, but one of them calls to him.  
  
"Hey, can ya spare a buck?" The man steps into his path.  
  
He slows his pace a little. "No...I have nothing." He puts his head down and tries to walk past, but the man puts his hand out and stops him.   
  
"C'mon man...you must have something. Help us out."  
  
"No...I don't. I can't help you." He notices the second man walking closer, holding a board.  
  
"I believe you...but my friend here doesn't."   
  
The second man steps close, slapping his left hand with the board in a threatening gesture. He keeps his eyes on the board, and raises his hands in a surrender pose, as the first man starts searching through his pockets. Behind the men he catches a glimpse of his family approaching silently.  
  
"You've got nothing. I'm afraid you're in a world of trouble boy."  
  
The second man raises the board to strike him and is instead slammed in the back of the head with a pipe. He falls forward against the wall, and before he reaches the ground he is struck again on the back. The first man turns to see five people behind him, all wielding weapons, and encircling him. Shortly there are two more homeless people, and then three more, and soon, he is surrounded by nine angry people.   
  
"Hey...c'mon...we weren't really gonna hurt ya buddy. Really." His eyes are wide with fear. "Call em off man."  
  
RD steps over the downed man and says, "I believe you...but my friends here don't."   
  
As he walks away, he hears the man scream, above the sound of flesh being bludgeoned. The screams end by the time he reaches the end of the alley, and as he turns out of the alley, the group starts to disperse three at a time, and follow.  
  
***  
  
*** 


	3. Chapter 3

~The Dead Of The Night~  
  
~Thursday, the night before Halloween, 9:30 p.m.  
  
  
  
Faith and Bosco are sitting in their RMP eating burgers on their meal break. Faith has finished and crinkles up the papers that her food was wrapped in, and stuffs them into the empty bag. Bosco watches her.  
  
"You're done already? Did you even taste it?"  
  
"I want to get a jump on this paperwork." She pulls a clipboard out from under the seat and starts filling it out.  
  
"We're still on break." he says, taking another bite of his burger. "We got all night to do it."  
  
"We?" She barks at him. "We...have not been doing the paper work...I have. And Fred is giving me shit about getting home so late all the time."  
  
"We haven't worked past our shift in weeks. You should be getting home on time."  
  
"I've been stuck here till after midnight trying to get the paper work done. And tonight you're going to stay if it isn't."  
  
"Alright...tonight I'll stay and help."  
  
"No...tonight you stay and do it. I'm getting home on time for a change."  
  
"I always help you, except for when I have a date after work."  
  
"Which has been every night for the past two or three weeks."  
  
"Hey...it's not my fault that you have no social life after work."  
  
"I have a social life...it's called a family. And tonight I'm getting home to see them"  
  
"Oh, like anyone will be awake when you get there anyway."  
  
She stops writing and glares over at him. She tosses the clipboard and the pen up onto the dash.  
  
He takes another bite out of his burger, and looks over at her. With his mouth full he says, "What are ya doin?"   
  
"Nothen."  
  
"I thought you were gonna get that done now?"  
  
"No." She says with an attitude.  
  
"But you said you wanted to get out on time."  
  
"I'm gonna. You're staying tonight."  
  
"Well...you can still try and get some of it done now."  
  
"I'm on break now." She crosses her arms and looks away out the window.  
  
"Ya know I do have a date tonight. I can be a little late...but...if I show up after midnight, she'll be pissed."  
  
"Don't worry...she probably won't be awake when you get there." She retorts sarcastically.  
  
Soon their break is over and as soon as Faith calls them in as 10-98, they are told to respond to a location...persons injured on the street.   
  
They arrive in front of the address and a man walks up to the car. "Down there." He points towards the alley. "I found them when I was closing up for the night."  
  
They follow him into the alley and see that there are two men laying there. Both are covered in blood. "Did you see anyone else? Anyone running away?" Faith asks.  
  
"No. Just them. I called you right away."  
  
Bosco calls in for the EMT's, but Faith checks them for a pulse and finds they are both dead. He calls in and tells them to send a detective and the coroner instead. She crouches next to the body for a few minutes, studying the injuries that had been inflicted.   
  
"Bos...look. He has the same bite marks on his hand that the guy we found yesterday had on him."  
  
Sully and Davis arrive at the scene.   
  
"What cha got?" Sully asks.  
  
"A couple of guys beaten to death." Faith informs him.  
  
"Were they mugged?" Ty asks.  
  
"Highly unlikely. They were bums." Bosco says.  
  
"You don't know that." Faith shoots back.  
  
"Look at them. They're filthy...I can smell them from here. It's more likely that they were bugging someone for money and got the tables turned on them. Serves 'em right."  
  
"Geeze Bosco...have a little respect for the dead." Sully reprimands him.   
  
"I have respect for the dead...it's this 'living dead' that I have no respect for. I say good riddance. These street people are just a blemish on society."  
  
"It looks like we have a rash of this happenin." Sully tells them. "We've responded to three calls this week on dead street people. And we've been finden them in groups of two or three...not just one at a time like usual."  
  
"We got one yesterday. There were two bodies there too."  
  
"Well they still ain't killen 'em off quick enough for me." Bosco says.  
  
Faith notices a pair of homeless men, standing around watching amongst the onlookers, giving Bosco an angry glare. "Alright Bos...c'mon. Keep your opinions to yourself. People can hear you."   
  
He looks around at the crowd that is gathering and spots the two men that Faith noticed. "What...you mean these people? These people don't have feelings to hurt." He steps over to them, making a sour face and waving a hand in front of it, indicating that they stink. "Were these guys friends of yours?" he taunts as he points to the dead men. "Are you sad that they're dead?" He tips his head and gives them a smirk. "Or are you sad because you didn't get a chance to steal their shoes before we got here? Huh?"   
  
"That's enough." She grabs his arm, leans in close and says to him quietly but sternly, "You're embarrassing me. Knock it off."  
  
R.D. stares angrily at Bosco. He knew they'd made a mistake coming back to the scene, but when the family had returned back at their lair after the attack, they realized that no one had removed the shoes from the two bastards. There are items they need desperately, and their survival hinges on getting these items at all costs. And the man with him, they call the reverend...because he preaches his own gospel to them, needs shoes...just as the mean little cop accused.   
  
Then the reverend shouts out at Bosco, "One day the meek shall inherit the earth. And when we do...you will get what's coming to you."  
  
"What did you say?" Bosco turns to him. "Did you just threaten me?"   
  
Faith tries to pull him back by his arm but he shrugs her hand off, and steps up to the man. "Did I hear a threat?" Bosco asks again.  
  
The bum spits on him. Bosco lunges at the man, but Faith steps quickly between them, as Davis and Sully grab Bosco by his arms and pull him away. Faith quickly grabs the bum, overpowers him backwards, and slams him up against the brick wall. She applies the cuffs to him, and walks him to the RMP. She glances back, giving Bosco a nasty look.  
  
R.D. follows her as she escorts the reverend to the car, and tries to reason with her.   
  
"Please don't take him. He didn't do anything wrong." She ignores him. "He's harmless. C'mon he's a little crazy but he'd never hurt anyone."  
  
"He spit on a police officer." She says trying to justify the arrest to herself more than to him.  
  
"He's sorry...aren't ya rev? Tell her you're sorry." The reverend starts rambling about the end coming, and how we are all being watched and judged by God. "Please...he's my friend. I'll watch him...I'll make sure he stays out of trouble. Don't take him away."  
  
"I'm sorry...I have ta do my job."   
  
"He didn't start it...that cop did. You were right there...you saw it."  
  
"Look...just come down to the station and bail him out." She ducks his head to put him in the back seat.  
  
"With what? We have nothing but each other...please...let him go. He's afraid of people. You can't lock him up. They'll kill him in jail. Please. He'll be terrified. You don't know what jail is like for someone with his mental problems. He don't understand."  
  
She starts to cave. She pulls him back away from the car and spins him around to remove the cuffs, but then Bosco storms up. He gets in R.D.'s face and says, "You wanna start something too?" R.D. looks to Faith for help but says nothing to Bosco. "Get the hell away from me then, or you're goen with your pal."  
  
"Bos...let's turn him loose." Faith interjects. "This is a lotta paper work for nothen."   
  
"Nothen? He spit on me Faith! Everyone saw it. No! He's goen in." He grabs the man from her and shoves him roughly into the back seat, and slams the door.  
  
R.D. steps back and watches as they drive away with the reverend.   
  
***  
  
*** 


	4. Chapter 4

...Happy Halloween.  
  
~The Dead Of The Night~  
  
~Friday, Halloween Day   
  
The darkness falls across the city in a domino effect, as large buildings cast their shadow against the next and the next then the next, deepening black as they crawl across the city. Their shadows creep through the streets almost unnoticed, as lights come on everywhere, to neutralize the feeling of inadequacy people have when trying to cope with the dark.   
  
But when you have nothing to show in the light, you are more adept in the dark. The darkness is pure to your being, true to your need, and critical to your existence. And so go the creatures of the night...beyond the light, skirting the shadows, using senses more important than vision. They know the darkness. They are the sound you hear, the smell wafting towards you, the thing you feel close by...in the dark. The things we know exist...but hide from, in the light. ----  
  
***  
  
[Roll Call, Halloween Day, 3:13 p.m.]  
  
Lieu is talking to the group of officers, some taking notes, others staring blankly ahead, while others, Boscorelli in particular, looking bored and bothered by the lecture, appearing to not be listening.   
  
"It's Halloween...and you know what that means. I want all the patrol cars to drive through the neighborhoods and make themselves visible. Watch out for the kids as they go trick-or-treating and keep an eye out for vandalism."  
  
"Great...now we have to baby sit for all the little crumb snatchers, while they beg for candy and terrorize the neighborhood. They should do away with this stupid holiday...we have better things to do."  
  
Lieu continues, " Units 55-Adam, Boyd and Charlie, you'll be on that detail. We've also had a rash of transient murders, and the mayor is starting to get heat for it...so we've been ordered to run spot checks at all the normal hangouts of the transients in the five-five. And since Bosco doesn't like protecting our cities children, 55-David can take this detail."  
  
Bosco pipes in, "Homeless hangouts? So ya want us to look...where, under every park bench, in every gutter..."   
  
"We want you to check the abandoned buildings in the area. Sort of like 'well being' checks. Someone is murdering the homeless. And however you may feel about it...they are human beings."  
  
"Oh c'mon Lieu...I mean...who really cares if they're being off-ed or not. They are like the living dead. Someone is doin us...and them, a favor."  
  
Faith gives Bosco a dirty look. "Bosco...ya just can't keep your mouth shut."  
  
Lieu gives Faith an apologetic look as they head out on patrol.  
  
*** [8:19 p.m.]  
  
Bosco holds the door as Faith emerges from the building. "It's getting dark ...that's it."  
  
"That's what?" She asks, brushing dust off her sleeve  
  
"That's the last building I'm checking tonight for this hobo helping hand. It's dangerous enough to wander through those abandoned buildings during the day, I'm not gonna risk falling through a hole in the floor in the dark."  
  
"I'm not gonna argue with you there. Let's just cruise in the RMP. There are enough of them laying around the alleys. We'll just check on them." She plucks a cob web off his hair as they walk back to the car.  
  
*** [9:39 p.m.]  
  
As Bosco drives, she shines the spotlight down each alley. If she spots a human form, they pull into the ally and make sure the person's ok.   
  
"There...I see one down there. He ain't movin." She says.  
  
Bosco stops the car and backs up to the alley. "Forget it...we can't fit down there."  
  
"We'll fit." She insists.  
  
"Shine the light again...there's too much crap down in there."  
  
"All right...damn it." She opens the door and steps out.  
  
"Hey, hey, hey...what are ya doin?"  
  
"I'm walking down there. Are you comin with me?"  
  
"No...I'll wait here. Let me know if the bum's dead...I'll call it in." he says, unwrapping a Snickers bar.   
  
"You're gonna make me go down there alone?"   
  
"I'm not making you do anything. I'd rather you stay in the car."  
  
"Well someone's gotta check it out."  
  
"Then go...knock yourself out."  
  
She gives a disgusted sigh and slams the door, then shines her flashlight down the alley. Nothing is moving, including the dark mound that appears to be a person laying against the wall near the end of the alley.   
  
She lights the ground in front of her to keep from stumbling over the garbage that litters the alley. Items appear in the beam of her light as she walks. A patch of gray, becoming white and suddenly a flash of yellow paper as the beam washes over it, then it disappears again into the dark behind her.   
  
Halfway down, she lifts the flashlight up from the ground and shines it at the dark image again, to be sure that the dark hadn't played a trick on her, giving human form to a bag of old clothes. But now she can see hair, the back of someone's head. It's definitely a person sprawled out on the ground.  
  
"Hello?" She calls out. "This is the police. Are you alright over there?"  
  
Bosco watches as she slowly makes her way down the alley. The light almost dances in the darkness, bouncing along the ground as she walks. Then he sees her point it straight out to the end of the alley as if she spotted something. Suddenly, he sees the light flash around frantically, as if it were trying to light the whole alley at once. As if someone were trying to wrestle it away from her.  
  
He snaps to attention. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up, as a surge of adrenaline flashes through him, preparing him for impending danger. He grabs the radio as he struggles to undo his seat belt, and fumbles with the door latch to get out of the car.   
  
"Faith...are you alright?" He yells into the radio.  
  
No answer.  
  
"Faith...what is it? What's happening?" He hops out of the car, ready to run to her.  
  
"I fell over a box." Comes her annoyed reply. "I'm alright."  
  
"Jesus...you scared the hell out of me." He leans on the open car door and smiles at the visual he just conjured up, of her falling. "Hurry up and check him, will ya." He prompts into the radio.  
  
"This would be easier if there were two flashlights down here." She retorts back to him.  
  
Ignoring her hint, he asks, "Can you see him? Does he look ok?"  
  
There is a long pause before she responds. "Bos...I see blood. I think he's dead."  
  
"Crap." He turns his head to the radio again. "Should I call for EMS or for the coroner?"  
  
She finally reaches the guy and crouches down shining her light on him. He is laying face down, with his head on his out stretched arm. There is blood in his hair and on his clothes, and also splatters of blood on the pavement around him. She grabs his left arm and rolls him onto his back. His face is beaten severely.   
  
She gets a shiver as she reaches her fingers to his neck to feel for a pulse. It is exceptionally dark in this end of the alley, and she starts to get the creeps. Suddenly there is a noise...something shuffling across the pavement, just out of the beam of her light. She straightens up and quickly shines the light in a circle around her, listening for any sound in the dark, spot-lighting certain dark objects, straining to see any movement.   
  
There's nothing there.  
  
She lets out a big sigh. "Oh boy. I'm wierden myself out here." She says out loud, with a nervous laugh. She reaches down again to take the man's pulse, shining the light back to his face. His eyes spring open, his hand shoots up into her face, and he lets out a loud wailing moan.  
  
She screams out and falls backwards.   
  
"What's wrong? Are you ok?" Bosco starts to enter the alley.  
  
"Bosco! Call for a bus...he's still alive." She calls into the radio.  
  
She hears a noise behind her, and spins the light around. Two transients are emerging into the alley from behind a door. When the light hits them, they raise their hands to cover their eyes, and turn back, disappearing behind the door again. In the quick flash of the light, she noticed they were both spotted with blood.  
  
"Stop right there!" She yells. "Stop!" She raises to her feet, and heads to the door. "Bosco...did you see them?" she calls out.  
  
"Yeah!" He yells as he hurries towards her.  
  
"They were covered in blood." She tells him, as she reaches the door. "I'm going after them. I need you here."   
  
She hears him call for a bus and for backup, his voice sounding breathy as he runs to catch up with her. She opens the door and shines her light in. There is a long stair leading down into the darkness below. She takes a peek back, to be sure that Bosco is close before she enters, calling into the abyss; "This is the police. I want you to stop where you are." She shines the light down inside and catches a glimpse of them at the bottom of the stairs. They are looking up at her, and stepping slowly backwards. "I'm not going to hurt you. I need you to stay right there so I can talk to you."   
  
Drawing her weapon, she starts her descent, flashing the light back and forth from her footing on the stairs, to the room in front of her, catching the two hobo's in her beam. She yells again for them to stay where they are, and tries to keep them in her light as much as she can. She hears water dripping inside the void beyond her, echoing monotonously through the emptiness, almost explaining the lunacy of the people that reside here.   
  
They start talking nonsense to her, a schizophrenic drabble about judgment day, and heaven on earth being in the underground subway. A rat scampers by their feet and it excites them. Wide-eye, they explain to her that rats are God's spies, talking quickly over each other, that we are being judged on how we treat the most vile of God's creatures.   
  
They are standing with their hands in the air in a surrender pose, squinting their eyes from the light, that she is shining purposely to keep them blinded, giving herself the advantage. She yells over their ramblings, for them to stop talking, and listen to her.  
  
"I need you to turn around and face the wall."   
  
Bosco yells down to her. "Yokas...did you catch them? Are you bringing them up?"   
  
"I'm gonna need you down here." She yells over her shoulder. Then she turns her attention back to the bums. "Put your hands against the wall." As she pats them down she asks, "How did you get the blood on you?" but they continue rambling on.  
  
Bosco yells from the top of the stairs. "Yokas...how's it goen?"  
  
She turns to flash the light in his direction. "I really need you down h..." is all she gets out. The beam illuminates a wall of people, standing corpse-like, silently encircling her, arms reaching for her ...only a foot away in the darkness. She lets out a partial scream, as a hand closes over her mouth from behind.   
  
He hears her stifled scream and freezes on the steps. Fear ripples through him, making his legs tremble and go weak. He grabs the stair rail. His fear of the dark, is now magnified by the fear that something terrible is happening to his partner deep inside of it. This time he knows...something is really happening.  
  
She feels what seems like fifty pairs of hands, grab her...wrap her up...and push her to the ground. Her arms and legs are pinned to the floor at so many points that she can't even squirm. She can taste salt from the dirty hand that is pressing hard over her mouth as she tries to scream through it. The flashlight is pulled out of her left hand, and someone is trying to pull the gun from her right hand. She desperately tries to keep it, wrapping her finger around the trigger.   
  
  
  
"Faith..." Bosco screams. "Faith...what is it!" He tries to take another step. He can hear her muffled voice yelling his name. He can hear something shuffling in the dark. The memory of the corpse from yesterday lunging at him in the dark, and the memories from his childhood, come rushing back to him. He tries to shine his light towards her but his hand won't let go of the rail. He clings to it like a child cringing in the dark from the boogieman. Like he did as a child.   
  
Her gun fires several times, drowning out her screams and the sound of her finger breaking, as they twist the gun out of her hand. She can feel her equipment being removed amidst the pain of them kneeling on her arms and legs to free their hands to grope her. They dig through her pockets and pull off her boots. They remove her watch and even the clip in her hair.   
  
When her gun goes off, it flashes in the dark like a strobe, freezing white ghoulish faces in the air, piercing the darkness and burning an image into Bosco' mind...a scene from 'Night Of The Living Dead'. Bosco realizes that there is a sea of people down there...and Faith is drowning in the middle of them.   
  
They are transients...it doesn't matter how many...they are just people. Bosco repeats that to himself over and over until his fear releases him. He starts again down the stairs screaming, "Get away from her! Faith I'm coming! Get off of her!"  
  
Thoughts run through his mind. 'How many are there...A warning shot may hit her...Has she been hurt...I should call in a 10-13... As he rushes down the steps, holding his gun in one hand, and the flashlight in the other, he reaches for his radio to relay the urgency for backup.   
  
In his panic, he fumbles to pull his radio out with his left hand, and he drops the flashlight. It tumbles in slow motion. He watches it hit the rail and flip downwards, sending the beam across his feet quickly...but in that brief second he sees a pair of hands reaching through the steps. In that same instant he feels his leg get snagged by them, stopping it in mid step. He feels his body falling forward over the step he didn't take.   
  
He yells out in frustration as he prepares for the impact. His arms flail in the darkness, and as his chest hits the steps, his left arm tucks under the stair, in an attempt to stop himself from tumbling. Instead, his weight and momentum rip at his arm, hyper extending it with a loud pop. He yells out again, this time in pain. He flips one more time, and stops with a dull thud on the dirt floor.   
  
***  
  
*** 


	5. Chapter 5

~The Dead Of The Night~  
  
~ Friday, All Hallows Eve, 10:00 p.m.  
  
Faith struggles against the hands that are shackling her, but there are too many of them, and her strength is exhausted. Her eyes dart around in the darkness, as she tries to see the horror that is upon her. But she can see nothing. She can only hear the gruesome sounds of their excitement at having captured her. Her attempted screams have been reduced to sobs, as her mind races through the terror she's feeling.   
  
Where is Bosco. Where is their backup.   
  
Beyond her stifled squeals for help and the sound of her frantic breathing under the grip of her unseen assailants, she can hear someone yelling, "Don't kill her yet". She sees her flashlight click on and off somewhere beside her, then start making circles on the ceiling. Then a man's voice rises above all the other sounds in the dark.  
  
"Give me that. You're wasting the batteries."   
  
"Can we kill her now?" Another voice says, sounding adult, yet child-like.  
  
"No...remember what we discussed?" the first voice spoke again, patronizing...patient.   
  
Suddenly the light is turned on her face. She squeezes her eyes closed. Her tears feel hot as they run down her cheeks. She wishes she could speak...beg for her life. This one voice doesn't sound threatening, if only she could talk to him. She tries to shake off the hand covering her mouth, only making it increase the pressure on her and pushing her head to the right, pinning her face to the dirt floor. Dust bellows up off the floor from under her nose and stings her eyes. Her breathing becomes increasingly more labored with her neck in this twisted position. She waits...unsure of what will happen to her next.   
  
  
  
"I know this cop." the patient voice says.  
  
She feels the weight shifting above the hands that are holding her down. They are leaning over her to get a better look. She tries again to struggle against them, but they push down even harder, making it more painful.   
  
She's sure her finger is broken but her whole hand is throbbing. The pain and fear...mixed with the smell of urine and sweat emanating from these people, over comes her in a wave of nausea. She swallows the feeling down, knowing she will choke if she gets sick.  
  
"So...can we kill her now?" The child-man asks again excitedly.  
  
The same voice reprimands him. "Benny. Be quiet."  
  
The flashlight moves off of her. She can only see white spots in the blackness, but she can tell the patient voice has walked away. Oh God don't leave, she screams in her mind. She knows they would have killed her if not for him. "Please...God." gurgles out illegibly, from under the smothering grip over her face. "Help me."  
  
R.D. steps over to Bosco's form, laying still at the base of the steps. He shines the light down on him. Bosco is laying face down, with his left arm twisted in an unnatural position. He is unconscious. R.D. grabs him by his left arm, and it pulls easily away from his shoulder, obviously dislocated.   
  
He kneels over him and takes Bosco's pulse to see if he broke his neck in the fall. He finds a strong pulse. He flips him over onto his back, and shines the light on him to verify what he already had guessed.   
  
"These are the bastards that took the reverend away." The voice changes from patient to enraged. Angry chatter rises up from the group and the energy in the room becomes volatile. The hands Faith feels on her, begin tearing at her, ripping her clothing and gouging her skin. They start beating her with their fists and one of them even bites into her arm.   
  
  
  
She tries thrashing away from them, her fear so heightened, that she actually kicks her legs free for a second. The hand comes off her mouth so suddenly that she only has time to gasp for breath, as the approaching flashlight swings like a pendulum out of the dark, hitting her hard in the face. She releases a moan before the second strike hits her, coming from the other direction. She feels herself fading away.   
  
She becomes unattached from herself, and melts into the darkness.   
  
In the distance, they hear the sound of sirens approaching from the street above. R.D. has to now make a decision on what they are going to do with these officers. He had always instructed them, especially after the reverend was taken from them, to avoid the police. The chance meeting with these two tonight was unplanned and dangerous.   
  
He had taught these people, his family, that if any of them were threatened, to pull together silently in a surprise attack, which they executed well. Normally the unsuspecting victim would be bludgeoned to death. But they are never to kill police officers. That would bring too much trouble.   
  
However these two are responsible for taking the reverend away from them. And he wants to punish them. Especially the mean little one. He needs to be taught a lesson... they will eventually be killed...but first he wants the male cop to become the very thing he detests, and the female to experience the fear that the reverend is experiencing, being incarcerated.  
  
They drag the unconscious officers to the other side of the building, up to the first floor, and take them out of the dilapidated building through a broken loading dock door. They stand them up, wrapping their arms around the shoulders of two of the stronger men in the family, and drag them back to their own hideout.   
  
They creep along the streets and back alleys unnoticed, giving the appearance of helping their drunk friends home. The officers, being stripped of their equipment, jackets, and uniforms, do not look like cops. Soon they are hidden away in the old coal basement, two stories down, under the streets of New York.   
  
*** [11:49]  
  
Bosco tries to move and pain grips him like a vise, holding him fast to his reclined position. He yells out, squeezing his eyes closed, and tears roll out involuntarily. He calls to Faith. When he gets no response, he looks around, searching for something familiar. Anything that will touch a memory of what has happened and where he is.  
  
He half expects to see a nurse lean over him...or worse...Doc. That would mean he was shot on duty. He doesn't remember what call they had responded to. The pain in his arm is excruciating...he must have been shot...but he is not in the hospital. It doesn't smell like disinfectant, it smells musty and dirty...smells like garbage. It's dark...and damp, yet it doesn't feel like he is outside. He tries to clear his head and think. What the fuck has happened. Where the hell is Faith...why would she leave him alone like this.  
  
He tries to move his arms. They are painfully stretched over his head, and he finally realizes that his wrists are handcuffed to something. He strains his neck to see what he is cuffed to, but it pulls at the pain in his shoulder and his body convulses, taking his breath away.  
  
This doesn't feel like a bullet wound. He absolutely can not move. He feels as though he's been speared to the ground. Pain is pulsing through him and he can't think straight, but he knows he is injured really bad, and he needs help. Where the hell is Yokas. Panic is starting to fill the void in his memory.  
  
"Faith!." He yells out to the darkness. As soon as he hollers, his chest seizes up in pain. He grits his teeth and growls out a moan, then gingerly calls out, "Faith...I need help." When he gets no response...his thoughts take him to the reality that maybe she is hurt too. Maybe they were in a car accident. That would explain the pain all over his body...but what about the cuffs?   
  
He catches a glimpse of something moving towards him. It's a flashlight bouncing in the dark. Then he recalls that at some point he had been watching Faith walking with a flashlight...she must have gone for help. Someone walks up and crouches down next to him.  
  
"Thank God you're here." Bosco says, his breath coming in pants now.  
  
"Oh...now you're glad to see me." A strange voice says to him as he shines the light into Bosco's eyes.  
  
"My arms...the pain...I can't stand it...you gotta help me. What happened?"  
  
"You don't remember? Maybe we can reenact it for you." He starts laughing. Beyond the voice Bosco hears a soft clamor but he can't make out yet where exactly he has ended up.  
  
"I think I'm hurt pretty bad. Please...you gotta get these cuffs off of me."   
  
"Oh...are you uncomfortable?"  
  
"Who are you? Where's my partner...is she alright?" Bosco asks.  
  
"The lady cop? I'm afraid not." He pauses. "Does that make you feel bad?" he says, repeating Bosco's words from the day before.   
  
"Are you a paramedic?" Bosco asks confused.  
  
"I am the meek...and I just inherited your world." Then he waits for a reaction. In the silence, Bosco realizes that there is a group of people just beyond his visibility...in the dark. That feels vaguely familiar. He still can't think straight. None of this is making any sense to him and he starts to feel an uneasiness drifting in. His body is throbbing all over and his head is spinning from the pain.  
  
"Where the hell is Faith. Was she hurt? Was it a car accident?" He raises his voice and all the pain he's feeling intensifies. The light in his eyes is turned off and a hand reaches out from the dark and grabs his face hard, digging their nails deep into his cheeks.  
  
Bosco yells out in surprise but it squeezes out of him as a low groan. His body is trembling now, from fear and from the pain that surged through him as his body tensed. He is helplessly in the hands of a lunatic...and he's sure he's about to die. His breathing increases as the man speaks again, this time his voice is only inches from his face.  
  
"You took someone from me, so I took someone from you. You laughed at us. You mocked us with your insults. Pushed us around like a big man, and then you took him away...my best friend. Tell me...is your partner your best friend?"  
  
The words don't sink in. His mind can only skim the surface of what's happening...the fact that he is injured, the fact that he needs help, and the fact that this guy isn't going to help him. "Faith." He yells out expecting her to emerge any second, and pull this guy away from him.   
  
The man laughs, "She's gone now." He lets go of Bosco's face and backs away. "She can't help you."   
  
"She wouldn't leave me like this." Bosco growls at the man.  
  
"She didn't have any choice. But she went kicking and screaming." He laughs casually.  
  
Bosco hears the voice drift away and he tries to move again. The movement sends pain coursing through him in waves, and this time he rides the wave, as his thoughts roll away in the undertow.   
  
***  
  
*** 


	6. Chapter 6

~The Dead Of The Night~  
  
~Friday, Halloween, Midnight  
  
R.D. had them cuff Bosco in the main part of the coal basement, under the street side of the building. The part they all live in. He wants Bosco to be right there with them, living amongst them. But he has them take Faith to another side of the basement. He has different plans for her. He wants her to experience the isolation and fear of incarceration. So they take her to the part of the basement under the back side of the building that is darker, colder. No one stays in that side of the basement because the walls and floor are always wet from water seepage.   
  
The only one who goes to this dingy area is Benny, who is following them as they drag Faith over there. Benny is in his twenties but he is retarded, with the mental capacity of a five year old.   
  
"R.D. she's going back to the other side though...right?. Why are you taking her here. This is mine." He starts picking up items on the floor as they walk. "This is my stuff. See? These are all mine." He is almost in tears as he paces around them, clutching his toys tightly in his arms. "This is mine...you said. She can't have this. I don't want her in my stuff."  
  
"Don't worry Benny. She won't touch your stuff." R.D. assures him, talking in a very soothing tone. "I'll show you."  
  
They drag Faith up to the farthest wall where there is a cast iron pipe protruding from the cement and running four feet across, about an foot up from the floor, then back into the cement wall.  
  
They cuff her hands around it, and then R.D. pulls out a roll of duct tape. He balls her hands into fists and tapes them up so she can't use her fingers. "See Benny...she can't touch anything. And so she don't kick you, we'll tape her feet together. Is that better?" He says reassuringly.  
  
"Ok...she can't use my things either. They're mine...she can't have them. This is where I keep my things. All the stuff I have...right here." Benny says like a spoiled child.   
  
"Then you can have her too. Would you like that?"  
  
"I can? For good?"  
  
"Yes." He says with a smile.  
  
"Ok then...she can stay here with my other stuff." He giggles like a child for a minute, but then his face turns scared. "Wait...she'll be looking at me. She'll be watching me when I do stuff." He says.  
  
R.D. patiently takes a deep breath and looks around. "Ok Benny...I have an idea." He picks up an old pillow case that Benny had a bunch of rocks in and dumps them out. "What if we put this on her so she can't see you?"  
  
As he says it, he pulls it over her head, tying a knot in the bottom around her neck.   
  
"There...now she can't watch you." Benny smiles and claps his hands. "Now you have to take care of her Benny. If she makes noise you have to punish her." He holds up her nightstick. "If she talks to you or if she screams, you just hit her with this until she stops." He demonstrates by whacking her on the leg with it.  
  
Benny gets all excited about his new responsibility. "Give me the stick. That's mine right? I can keep it. And no one else right R.D.?"   
  
"Right Benny." He smiles at him like a proud father and then he heads back over to Bosco, to see how he likes his new home.   
  
  
  
The dull throbbing in Faith's head keeps nudging her to think. Thoughts come floating in and out with an underlying feeling of dread that she half recognizes, and half tries to suppress. She could feel herself being moved around and logic tells her that she's been injured so maybe paramedics are treating her...but a feeling comes instinctively... warning her that something is wrong. Something she can't handle, and she just can not bring herself to consciousness.   
  
*** [Saturday morning, 4:32 a.m.]  
  
Bosco wakes to the cold, damp, darkness that is still encasing him...like a tomb. His body trembles as if to shake it off, and in his mind...he knows that he needs to do something. No one is coming to help him...not even Faith. He feels an air of anger about that. She is his partner...he needs her help...she should be here for him.   
  
He tries to remember the events that led to this. They were on Hobo duty. He remembers riding in their RMP. He remembers Faith checking an alley with a flashlight...against his wishes. They should have just moved on.  
  
She found an injured bum, and then chased the perps that hurt him. He remembers following her through a doorway into a dark building. She knows he hates the dark, but she led him in there anyway. He remembers entering the darkness and...that's it...he was on the stairs...falling. He fell down the stairs and she must have run off after the perps, leaving him behind. His pain, blends with anger, leaving every fiber in him discomforted and cold.  
  
  
  
There is something more though...what about the hand cuffs. And then there's that jag-off talking in riddles. Something he said begs to be remembered. That statement he made...someone else said that to him too...not long ago. The meek inheriting...that crazy bastard that spit on him. Faith left him here, and that son-of-a-bitch found him and put him in his own cuffs. His anger overtakes his thoughts. Wait till I see her...that bitch...we'll see how she likes working with a new partner.  
  
He stews in his discomfort, feeling sorry for himself, and plotting retribution for his pain and suffering. He has never been in so much pain and it gets worse as the hours pass. He drifts in and out of consciousness, waiting for someone to get him out of this dilemma. Waiting for his partner to come back and save him.  
  
But there is still something else...something is giving him an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. A feeling like something sad has passed through him. It was in the words that strange man spoke to him. He said he took someone from him. The guy asked if Faith was his best friend...he said she was gone. Went kicking and screaming. What the hell did that mean.  
  
He gets a hollow feeling in his chest and his heart sinks into it. "No...no...Faith!" he calls out in desperation. It can't be true...she can't be... He can't finish the thought. He tries to call her name again but he chokes up. He searches his mind to remember more. He suddenly remembers her gun going off, and the image in the flash. The living dead attacking her. Demons he created with his own venomous words against the homeless. "Nooo!" He moans.  
  
His mind searches for proof to contradict what his heart feels. Faith arrested that guy...they wouldn't have killed her because of it. She didn't even want to do it. She did it because he insisted. "Oh God, what have I done." He sobs out loud, very much alone now. Frustration and anguish consume him. He feels the world spinning, spiraling down.   
  
He lays there crying...instinctively crying for his own situation and helplessness. Crying at the thought that he will never see her again. He pictures her over and over, in the midst of those people. He hears her screaming for him. His name...her last breath. She must have felt deserted. She must have been terrified.   
  
And he did desert her. He let her go into that alley alone...he let her enter the building alone. He didn't want to search that dirty building or handle another dirty hobo. So he waited at the top of the steps for her to do it, stalling, knowing that she would bring them up to him. Then he froze. He froze on the steps while she screamed for him. A hot pain flashes through him, and with it flashes the images of those creatures, swarming over her again. It haunts him.  
  
***  
  
The gentle nudging on her leg brings her out of her sleep. For a brief moment, it was all a dream. She takes a quick breath, which draws the cloth tightly to her face. The sack over her head is real. Her hands instinctively try to reach for it and they are stopped, painfully bound to metal. The tape binding her fingers, is real. The throbbing of her broken finger and the soreness on her face and arms and body...the attack...was real. And the nudging on her legs, the feel of rats scampering over her, and then nibbling at her...all real.  
  
She screams without control, kicking her legs in nervous spasms to scare away the newest unseen assault. She twists to her side and curls up, crouching against the wall she is bound to. She strains to listen above the sound of her breathing which is coming in quick, labored sobs. She hears something to her right. Someone is standing there...she can feel it.  
  
Her voice is shaky. "Who's there?" She listens but hears nothing. "Please...help me." She still gets no response. Maybe no one is there. Her mind is stressed beyond the point of comprehension, because...this can't be really happening to her. She screams out for help again, this time, screaming to be heard from far away. Then she listens, desperate for any response at all, but nothing comes. She hears the sound of creaking pipes and strange echoes off in the distance, and nothing more.   
  
As she regains control of her breathing, her hearing becomes more acute. She can hear the sound of rats scampering a short distance away. Then she hears the squeals of a rat fight, or was it a child giggling. Momentarily, she looses touch with reality.  
  
"Emily?" she calls out. Her mind comforts her with a memory from a safer time. Not just before this happened, but way back, to when Emily was the giggling child. To the time when she adored her mother, and her and Charlie's worlds revolved around her. When Fred was the unreliable one...the missing parent...before she became a cop; a job she took so that she would be able to take care of her children without Fred.   
  
Her eyes fill with tears as it dawns on her how cruelly that turned on her. Now Fred is the adored parent and she is the one that is never there for them. The one that her children...at least Emily...resents. Maybe Charlie too. She doesn't even know him. She's come so far detached from their lives that they may not even miss her now that...now that she's gone.  
  
She is gone...she's sure of it. They are going to kill her, or maybe they've left her here to die, but the worst part is that they are giving her time to miss the things she will leave behind. Forcing her to think about the people in her life, and what her death will do to them. And she cries harder thinking that she never made amends with her daughter, that Emily may even be glad when she is gone.  
  
"You better be quiet! Or you'll get this." A voice pushes her out of her thoughts as it draws closer. Benny waves the night stick at her, not comprehending that she can't see it. "I mean it too." He adds forcefully.  
  
Hearing a voice, she is more relieved than startled. "Help...help me, please." Words come spilling out of her mouth, "Oh God...please, I can't see. There were rats. Rats were on me. Please...you gotta help me. I can't see...I can't...my hands. I can't get the rats off me..."  
  
Benny swings his new stick at her, catching her in the shin. It makes a hollow 'cracking' sound and produces a welt immediately.  
  
She screams out and pushes herself back against the wall with her legs. Benny gives out an excited squeal. "I told you...I said...you better be quiet." He swings it at her again, and connects with her ribs.  
  
"God...don't...please!" She slides backwards, away from the direction of the blows. "Stay away from me!" She screams. The cuffs reach the end of the pipe and she can't back away any further. "Stop! Please...don't kill me!" Her voice has reached an hysterical pitch.   
  
Benny giggles excitedly...childishly...and swings the stick again, clipping her on her forehead. This one stuns her into silence. Her body relaxes and she teeters on the edge of awareness, afraid to let go completely for fear that she will never wake up. She feels blood soaking into the cloth over her head, and it itches as it travels down her face.  
  
*** Saturday 6:15 p.m.  
  
Bosco's anger is now aimed at the hideous people who have hurt them. And the anger he felt towards Faith, has now turned to guilt. And it's eating him up.  
  
He made her do all the reports alone, offering to help like it was a favor rather than what was expected of him. He did what ever he felt like doing and she...unconditionally took up the slack for him. She covered for him...always. She backed him even when she didn't want to.  
  
He thinks back to when she had cancer. When he ran after that guy who killed his own family. She was sick...and still she followed him in. He got mad at her for not being there, even though she was there...sick...and yet she apologized to him. She told him all afternoon she was sick...he ignored her...and made her feel like she had let him down. What a shit he was to her. He never admitted this before, not even to himself.   
  
She never let him down...she was there for him when he went after the bastard that hit his mother. She was there when he was pinned in the Russian mob shootout, and even though he took another partner, she is the one that laid down cover for him. She was there when he had his breakdown...no matter how hard he'd tried to push her away. He insulted her...he was mean. He pictures the hurt in her eyes when he asked for a new partner...not once but twice.   
  
He dumped her for Cruz. He turned his back on her over and over... until he needed something from her. And she always let him back in...even when it caused problems for her in her marriage. And now he needs her...not even remembering that she needed him first.  
  
Bosco goes through a list of emotions. Anger, sadness, guilt. He isn't good at being on the receiving end of crime and punishment. But he is being punished...for the way he treated her. He is scared to think that if Faith can't help him...who else will? There is no one else who would lay their life on the line for him. And even if someone does...can he survive and move on without her? A thought seizes him with fear...he 'is' without her...and look how well he's doing.   
  
***   
  
.  
  
*** 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Third Watch  
  
Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews.  
  
~The Dead Of The Night~  
  
~Sunday, two Days after Halloween  
  
The mind is more fragile than one may realize. The smallest points of pain can make the most damaging fissures in the psyche, allowing reason and sanity to drain away. Something as simple as scratching an itch...an almost involuntary reflex of comfort...when suppressed for two days...drains something from you, mentally.   
  
The simple act of not speaking, when it's all that's been left to you, causes an inner struggle that you loose, no matter what you do. You cry for help, and get beaten, so you beg them to stop, and the beating increases. You say nothing...you become even more helpless.   
  
Faith's body already feels like a corpse. Her skin is cold to the touch, and her clothing is damp like the wall and the muddy floor beneath her. The beatings have become more frequent. She is shivering less than she was before, and she knows that can't be good. Her body is either becoming hypothermic or it's shutting down. And her stomach hurts but she doesn't feel hunger any more.   
  
  
  
Faith struggles to stay awake, because each time she sleeps, she is startled awake by something crawling on her. Sometimes it's rats, sometimes it's bugs and the last time it was Benny, testing the limits of his childish demeanor, with his adult body and urges. She awoke screaming and scared him off of her, but the body warmth and human contact made her realize how far she's already slipped away. It almost felt...comforting.  
  
***  
  
Bosco has been adopted by a guy they call Will. He's a scrawny, skeleton like man, with sunken, black agate eyes, and patchy hair from having ring worm. He looks diseased. His bony hands clutch a book that he uses as a bible, but it isn't really...it's way too thin. He holds it upside down sometimes, when he is pretending to be reading from it. And Bosco doubts that this loon can even read at all.  
  
He prattles on all day misquoting passages from the bible to Bosco, his captive audience, ending almost every paragraph by pointing to the sky, looking up and resounding, 'So help me God!'. He has taken on the mission of saving Bosco from the hell above, and is trying to exorcise the evil out of him, down here below ground, which he calls 'heaven under earth'. How's that for twisted. They seem to worship rats, feeding them scraps of the rotting food they steal from dumpsters, which they try to feed to him but he refuses, repulsed beyond the aching need for it.   
  
This guy preaches that God sent rats down to spy on us and we are being judged on how we treat them. Rats are disgusting scavengers, dirty and vile, living in the most horrible of conditions, and only the people who can look at them with love and treat them tenderly, will be accepted into heaven.   
  
Bosco starts believing this is true...and that God has judged him, because these people are rat-like, and Bosco treated them horribly. He treated his partner just as bad and she represents everything good to him. He is doomed and he is being punished in this hell.   
  
Bosco sleeps most of the time, his pain making him immobile, and his sorrow has consumed him to the point of not caring. The pain from hunger is as poignant as the pain in his shoulder. He has given up on waiting for help, and is now only waiting to die. He has lost all hope and his will to live.   
  
He has even given up on shutting out Will, because when Will is silent, Bosco can only think of Faith...how he let her down and became the person he despises the most...his father. She was his family and he destroyed her. Although he never hurt her physically, he pushed her around emotionally with no regards for what she needed...ever.  
  
***  
  
R.D. decides to take Benny to the school around the corner today. They are having a charity costume party for the homeless children, and will be serving hot food and handing out candy to the kids. Benny can go as a cop.   
  
They dress him up with the hat and jacket, complete with badge, and let him carry the night stick. The two of them climb out into the cold November air on their mission to bring back food for everyone. Benny is excited and R.D. thinks to remind him not to tell any one where he got his costume.  
  
***  
  
The principle of the school had contacted the precinct and asked if they could send a unit to attend their party to talk to the children about safety, but what he really wanted was security for the undesirables that they are throwing this charity event for.   
  
Sully and Davis were the chosen unit.   
  
Sully is his gruff self, standing around mostly, talking with the principle and the teachers, keeping a keen eye on the homeless families. He assumes the majority of them are there to steal any items that are not nailed down. Davis on the other hand, is getting into the festive atmosphere, and interacting nicely with the children.  
  
They ask Davis questions like how fast does his police car go, and did he ever shoot anyone. And then one boy asks if he works with the other cop that is at the party. When Davis points to Sully and tells him that is his partner, the boy says he meant the other cop, the goofy one.  
  
Davis spots Benny sitting at a table eating cookies and drinking hot cider. Then R.D. joins him with more food. Davis walks up and greets them.  
  
"Hey, are you from the 55?" He asks.  
  
"No...I'm a policeman." Benny says. "Wanna see my stick?"  
  
Davis realizes that Benny is slow, and is actually in a costume. He smiles genuinely. "Yah...let me see your stick."  
  
Benny shows him the nightstick, and Davis tells him what it is really called. Then he asks R.D. "Where'd ya get the costume...it looks real?"  
  
"It is real...My father was a cop. He's gone now."  
  
"Oh...I'm sorry. Was he with the 55?"  
  
"No...we were from Jersey." R.D. says convincingly.  
  
Sully walks up thinking, as Davis did, that Benny was a real cop. He catches on quickly that Benny is not really an adult, and also makes conversation. "Catch any bad guys today?"  
  
"Yup...I got a hundred of them so far." Benny says, all proud of himself.  
  
"1141...that badge number seems familiar. What is your last name?" Sully asks R.D..  
  
"Lester. My father was Marcus Lester. Did you ever work in Jersey?"  
  
"No. The name doesn't sound familiar either but the pin on the jacket says he's from the 55." Sully says pointing to the pin.  
  
"Ah...actually he did work in New York for a few months before we moved to Jersey. That was a long time ago. It must be from that. I got the jacket out of a trunk. My dad gained a lot of weight by the time he died. His newest outfits didn't fit Benny."  
  
"Oh...that badge number sure seems familiar though. Lester huh? It doesn't ring a bell."  
  
"Well...officers...it was nice chatting with you. We gotta go. I have a job interview at six."  
  
"Hey good luck. And Benny...if I ever need back up...you're my man." Davis says, pointing his fingers at him like he's holding a gun.  
  
"Nice people huh?" Davis says to Sully after they leave.  
  
"Yah. I hope the job comes through for him." He stands, staring at the ground for a minute. "It's gonna drive me crazy trying to figure out why that number is so familiar." Then he gets a forlorn look in his eyes. Putting his hand up to his mouth he says, "Oh...man."  
  
"What's wrong?"   
  
"It's Yokas...her badge had a lot of ones in it."  
  
"Could it be...do you think that..." Davis doesn't know how to finish the statement.  
  
"Do I think that...what...a retarded homeless child abducted her?" Sully says.  
  
Davis sighs. "Yah...it's crazy. I know. I just want to find them...I wanna know they're ok. Do you believe what the detectives are saying?"  
  
"That they ran off to Barbados together? Not for a second. All they have is the fact that two plane tickets were bought with cash and a stewardess thinks she recognized them from a photo. That's crap. Faith would never leave her family...especially not for Bosco. But when they told their suspicions to Faith's husband, he threw a tantrum saying that he knew Bosco would ruin their marriage, and he should never have let them be partners. That cast enough suspicion for them...another case solved."  
  
"So they've closed the case?"  
  
"No...not really, but I'll bet they've stopped looken into it. We may never know what happened to them, unless their bodies turn up somewhere."  
  
"Well...if it comes down to that...I hope they are in Barbados...but the homeless retarded child theory seems more believable to me."  
  
***  
  
  
  
Benny and R.D. return back to their home. R.D. watches Bosco for a while and realizes that Bosco has given up on life. That is not acceptable. R.D. knows that this little prick would rather be dead than live as a transient, and he won't let Bosco have his way. He decides to revive him by teasing him with hope.  
  
His desire to live is deadened by the physical pain he's feeling from his shoulder and his emotional pain from the belief that his partner is dead. R.D. can fix both of those things.  
  
First he un-cuffs Bosco's hands. Bosco looks up at him but doesn't appear to really see him. His eyes are bloodshot and glassy. The dark rings around his eyes look as though he'd been punched. He doesn't seem aware that he's even been un-cuffed until R.D. grabs his wrist and moves his arm from the position above his head to straight out at his side.  
  
That simple movement, sends a white hot pain through him. He croaks out a yell through his dry throat and grabs for his chest with his right hand. This movement also stabs him with pain, with his arms having cramped into that position, and he takes a hard breath and holds it, as he prepares himself for what may happen next.  
  
R.D. puts his foot against Bosco's underarm, and placing one hand just above his elbow, and holding his wrist hard with the other, he pulls with all his might, one hard snap of his arm. Bosco yells out again, louder this time, and his shoulder and arm lurch up with a loud crack.   
  
R.D. releases Bosco's arm and it falls limp to the floor. Bosco draws a breath with a raspy grating sound, which sends him into a coughing fit momentarily. Then he suddenly realizes that the pain in his arm has deadened to a dull throb. His eyes open wider and he stares at R.D. in disbelief. His pain has lessened...although his agony has not.  
  
***  
  
R.D. wanders back to where they left Faith. She doesn't look good at all. He realizes that Benny has been pretty rough with her, he should have kept a better eye on him. The pillow case over her face is very bloody. He isn't ready yet for her to die either.  
  
Dying, would let them off the hook too easily. He isn't done punishing them. He is going to bring them together, let them comfort each other back from the doorway of death. He can always open that door for them again later...when he chooses.  
  
He kneels down next to Faith and removes the pillowcase from her head. She is awake but not at all alert. Her face is pasty white and she has bruises on her left cheek, a welt on her forehead, and her right eye is purple and almost closed. The right side of her face is caked with dried blood.  
  
He un-cuffs her hands, and pulls the tape off of them. Her fingers barely uncurl giving her hands a crippled, witch-like appearance. She moans and tries to speak but it doesn't come out legible. He has Benny help him lift her to a standing position. Her frame, is shaky and frail, as if she has aged decades in this few days.  
  
As they walk her to the other side, she speaks only one word over and over... "No"...as if her mind can't quite wrap around it. Like a record skipping, with the needle hopelessly stuck in a mar, that it just can't break out of and continue on.  
  
They walk her right over to Bosco, who looks up indifferently, not recognizing the feeble figure they are bringing towards him. He ponders for a moment that they have captured some other vulnerable person from the world above, and he should do something to help, to get involved...to do his job. But it is fleeting, with the feeling of 'who cares' pushing it away. He even feels pissed, for just a split second of lunacy, that Faith will probably make him get involved anyway, even though he doesn't feel like it. The bleeding heart that she is...was.   
  
His heart feels suddenly heavier, weighted with guilt at the fact that his shoulder actually does hurt less, and he shouldn't be allowed to feel this new comfort. He wants to just curl up in a flash of pain and flicker out in the darkness. He defiantly does not look up as they approach.   
  
They bring her over, next to him, and set her against the wall, which she immediately slides down like she's made of paper. He closes his eyes, to show he is not interested.   
  
"What's the matter...does she repulse you now? Are you too good for her, too? You acted like such a big man...saving the world from us...but you can't even save yourself. Look at you." He kicks Bosco in the legs.   
  
"Screw you." Bosco says bitterly. Then he glances to her. It sinks in so slow as he watches her struggling, not daring to believe that he could be given a second chance, to be relieved of the guilt, and of the finality of his loss. He stares, cautious of breathing life into to the deflated essence of her being.   
  
"Faith?" he says softly, afraid he may wake himself if this is only a dream that his mind is playing for him. "Faith? Is that you?" He gets no response beyond a whimper and the tormented word she is still repeating... "no." but he recognizes her voice in it. It really is her.   
  
He tries to roll to his side and lift his body to a sitting position, but the dull throbbing turns instantly to pain. His good arm shakes, trying to lift his battered frame, like a ninety year old man trying to do a push up.   
  
"What the hell did you do to her. What's wrong with her?" Then his voice gets harder, almost threatening. "You told me she was dead...you son-of-a-bitch!"  
  
R.D. laughs back at him. "I never said that. You must be loosing touch with reality. Ya know they say all homeless people are insane. And you two broke so easily." He laughs again as he walks away, calling to Benny to follow. "Lets let him spend some quality time with his transient partner."   
  
Bosco slowly crawls over to her, oblivious to the pain, focused only on the fact that he is no longer alone. That the other half...the better half, of 55 David has been resurrected from the dead, and now there is a chance...a slight hope, that they can still get out of this alive. But in the back of his mind a warning keeps sounding off that they are still at the mercy of a very dangerous and demented mind, and if he allowed them this small hope, there is an ulterior motive behind it. He has no idea of what it may be, but he is confident that Faith will figure it out.  
  
He knows now, that he needs to rejuvenate...if only he hadn't turned down the morsels of food that had been offered to him. As disgusting as they were, he needs strength. That is what he brings to the table, while Faith is the voice of reason. The one who will have to figure out what they have to do, to get out of this trouble.  
  
He can see that she is in very bad shape physically. The bruises to her face are startling in their severity. He touches her arm gently, to show her that he is here for her now, assuming that she was also told that he was dead. She is cold to the touch, and he notices that her clothing is wet, and also torn, revealing bite marks and deep gashes, some looking already infected.   
  
Her body is trembling and her hands...her fingers look crippled, possibly broken. Tears form in his eyes from the emotion that is overflowing in him. They are tears of frustration at their dilemma, tears of joy at her return, and tears of anguish for what she must have gone through.   
  
When he touches her arm, she pulls away from him, speaking the redundant "no". He cradles her face in his hands and says reassuringly, "Faith it's me. It's alright...I'm gonna help you."   
  
She stares at him, eyes wide with terror and void of any recognition of him. She starts fighting him off, trying to speak, but saying only the first syllable of the word "don't", programmed to not actually say the word to avoid a beating. But he doesn't understand this.  
  
"Faith it's me...it's me...Bosco. Stop it...stop. I'm trying to help you." He finally releases his hold when she pounds him in the chest and shoulders, sending him reeling back from the pain of his broken ribs. She backs away and curls up, covering her head. And he is stunned with the feeling that she may be too far gone emotionally to help him plan an escape. And he knows that he is also teetering on the brink of insanity.   
  
*****  
  
***** 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Third Watch  
  
Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews...Happy Halloween.  
  
~The Dead Of The Night~  
  
~One year later, Halloween  
  
[Roll call]  
  
Lieu is debriefing the crew of the third watch. "As you all know, it's Halloween once again." There is a nervous...kind of dark mood in the room. "I want all units to be visible, and to patrol the neighborhoods where there will be trick-or-treaters. Keep your eyes open for any vandalism...and please...eyes and ears open." He glances around the room but his eyes hang for a second on 55-David. "Any calls that come in I want everyone backing each other up. Ok...that's it...be careful out there."  
  
The officers all head out to their RMPs, and Sully walks over to 55-David's RMP as they settle into it, and says, "You two be careful tonight. Don't answer any calls involving transients, or as Bosco labeled them...the 'living dead'" Then he walks on, his eyes troubled, his shoulders slightly slumped.  
  
"Ok...thanks Sul." She says politely. Then shakes her head.  
  
"I'm sick of everyone carrying on about this crap, just because of what happened last year." He tells her, annoyed.  
  
"I think it's kind of sweet. They care about us...they're worried." She says, buckling her seat belt.  
  
"I'm not a victim in a horror movie...I hate being looked at like we're part of a spook legend." He starts the car and drives off rather quickly, to emphasize his anger.  
  
"Knock it off will ya. You've been in a bad mood for a week now. Give it a rest. I hate when you're like this."  
  
He shoots her an angry glare but lets it go. What pisses him off the most is the fact that everyone is acting like they can't take care of themselves. He resents the fact that everyone thinks they need to watch over them.   
  
[9:39]  
  
The first half of their shift ends quietly, they make it through their meal period uninterrupted, and they have just called back in as 10-98 when they get a call.  
  
'55-David...we have an assault on the street...1202 Lexington'  
  
They respond back and head to that location. A crowd has gathered on the sidewalk and a man approaches the car as she climbs out.   
  
"They're down there..." the man says, pointing down an alley. "they're still in there...I'm sure of it."  
  
"Hold on sir...tell me what happened." She says.  
  
As he climbs out of the driver's seat, he surveys the situation. There is a man down on the sidewalk, his head bleeding badly, and there is another man kneeling over him comforting him to the fact that help has arrived. Standing near the man is a young boy crying, and woman holding his hand and trying to console him. He calls for a bus, and listens as his partner gets the details of what went down.  
  
"I was taking my kid around trick-or-treating with my neighbor and her kids. We were across the street, over there. Then these two lunatics, these crazy street people, came out of this alley, and grabbed the candy away from his son...the bastards...and when he tried to stop them, one shoved him back and the other went after him with a war club."  
  
"They were transients?" She glances at her partner nervously. "What do you mean by 'war club'."  
  
"You know...a club like yours...he was real good with it...real fast...beat him badly...and then they ran down the alley as we all came running up to help. The alley's a dead end...no way out. They're still in there. You gotta get those animals off the street."  
  
They can hear the sirens approaching. The EMTs are close, so they tell the man to stay with the vic until the ambulance arrives while they check out the alley. She calls for backup, and he shoots her an angry look, which she ignores...this is no time to be stupid.   
  
They turn on their flashlights and draw their weapons, then slowly... cautiously, head down the alley. There is plenty of garbage piled up, plenty of things someone can hide behind, but as they near the end, they have come up empty. They've checked all the doors on their way down, and they are all locked. There is just one thing left to check...a dumpster.  
  
They approach it quietly, and from inside, they can hear rustling. He points to her, motioning for her to take the left flank, while he grabs a box to stand on, positioning it in front of the right corner. She holds her light on the metal container, while he climbs on the crate and steadies himself. He motions to her with a flipping motion of his thumb, that she is to fling the top open. He stands poised, holding his gun with both hands, pointing it in the air just to the right of the lid, so that as soon as it opens, he can swing it around, and point it down inside.   
  
Staring intently at the lid, he takes a deep breath and nods to her. She grabs the top, and pulls it quickly up, but it only opens a foot, and something pulls it back down forcefully, throwing off his timing. He swings his weapon over the box, but the lid has closed and then it flies open again as quickly as it slammed shut, hitting his hands in an upward motion, knocking him off balance, and throwing him backwards off the crate.   
  
His partner is stunned. She freezes, taken aback by the figure hurdling itself out of the open dumpster, swinging its legs over the edge, and landing in between them, a dark silhouette hunched within a threatening facade, and wielding a weapon above it's head. Without hesitation, it spins it's night stick like a baton, it's long dark hair whipping around it's face. As the downed officer struggles to his feet, the ominous entity pummels him four times in the blink of an eye.   
  
She spins towards the figure, trying to regain her defensive stance after opening the lid. She tries to point her weapon, but before she can, she is attacked from the side. A second figure, thin and stealthy, pounces on her from the dumpster, knocking her to the ground, and beating her with it's bare hands, clawing her face and gouging at her eyes. Then, just as quickly as the attack started, it was over, as the two figures simultaneously stand and run back out of the alley towards the awestruck crowd.  
  
As all of this was happening, 55-Charlie arrived as backup and is yelling for the crowd to move away from the alley. They enter and assess what is happening. Davis yells out, "Are you alright?" to the fallen officers, behind the two figures running towards them. His flashlight sweeps across them, briefly confirming that the primordial looking figures he sees approaching, are indeed human.  
  
Sully yells, "Oh my God! Faith..."   
  
Davis takes a stance and points his weapon at the figures that are nearly upon them. He has only a second to make a decision of whether or not to shoot. He hesitates. Sully yells "Stop!" but it is too late. One figure lunges at Davis, tackling him around the waist, driving it's head into his stomach and slamming him backwards to the ground knocking the wind out of him. In one smooth motion, the figure rolls off of Davis to the side, and bounces to his feet and keeps running.  
  
The other one, a woman, runs straight at Sully, slamming him hard in the chest, causing him to stagger backwards a few steps. He is horrified, staring wide eyed and yelling "Oh my God!" He lets his gun slip from his hand and grabs for the tattered clothes of his assailant. The figure puts her hands against his chest and heaves him backwards, releasing a half grunt, half growl. Sully hangs on tight, pulling her over with him. For a moment they fall, seemingly hung in slow motion, her nearly white hair draping over his head like blinders and locking them face to face, his eyes wide in shock, hers wild and a cold, gunmetal blue.   
  
The male figure runs back and grabs her, tearing her out of Sully's grip. They run towards the crowd, which backs away to give them clear passage, and they disappear into the darkness.   
  
The onlookers, along with Kim Zambrano, run to the officers. Davis is already to his feet, and is bent over trying to catch his breath.   
  
"Are you alright Ty?" Kim asks putting her hand on his back and bending over to make eye contact.  
  
"Yah..." his voice breathy. "Gimmy a sec...it just knocked the wind out of me. Check Sul."  
  
Sully is struggling to his feet as she takes him by the arm. He looks pale and disoriented. She tries to get him to sit back down on the ground, but he pushes her back.  
  
"Did you see them?" He says excitedly. "Oh my God! Did you see...?" He starts to walk out of the alley, with Kim trying to restrain him. "Where did they go?"  
  
"Sully I need you to sit. You're in shock."  
  
"Let me go. I have to get them. Didn't you see them?" He pushes her away.  
  
"Sully...you need to sit..."   
  
"Get the hell away from me! Go help Maria and Dale." He barks at her. Then he turns to the crowd. "Where did they go? Any one see?" They point up the road but no one really knows where for sure. Sully looks around desperately, but the two figures are gone.  
  
Kim heads over to help 55-David. Dale Martin is laying unconscious on the ground in front of the dumpster, and his partner, Maria Lucas, is kneeling over him, her face scratched and bloody, with welts already beginning to rise on her face.  
  
Davis staggers up to Sully. "Are you alright man? You don't look good."  
  
"Did you see them Davis?" he asks, placing a hand over his mouth in dismay. "Oh my God." He whispers.  
  
"Hell yah I saw them...up close and personal."   
  
"We gotta find them...find out what the hell..." his voice trails off. "I can't believe it." He says, his gaze far away.  
  
"Relax Sul. I think Kim's right...you need to sit down."  
  
"Davis we have to start a search...have to find them."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about Sul?"  
  
"Faith and Bosco...you saw them, Davis...right? It was them."  
  
Davis raises his eyebrow. "Sul...c'mon you're in shock. Faith and Bosco are gone. Been gone a year. You're mind is playing tricks."  
  
"No Davis...that was them...that was Faith...I saw her...she..."   
  
"Sul...it's Halloween...they disappeared a year ago today...they've been declared dead. Those animals were not them. You're in shock."  
  
"Davis...I know what I saw."  
  
"You just have them on your mind because Dale and Gina are now 55-David and the coincidence of them starting tonight...in Faith and Bosco's squad...on Halloween...everyone feels weird about the coincidence, and then getting a call involving the homeless...but...they're gone Sul they're probably dead."   
  
Sully stares at him, bewildered. Sure of what he saw and then not sure at all. "Ty it was Faith...I looked in her eyes...they were crazy but ..."  
  
"Sul...you're just feeling guilty...because we didn't act on the homeless guy that had her badge. It's not your fault that we didn't figure it out in time. You've been looking for them in every alley for a year. If they were still alive...we would have found them by now. You've gotta stop looking for them, you're gonna drive yourself crazy."  
  
Sully looks around to all the officers that have arrived now, and they are all looking at him like he's nuts. Maybe Davis is right, he needs to let it go.   
  
***  
  
The two figures slink around in the shadows, slipping down darkened alleys, working their way back to their coal basement...unnoticed.   
  
Months of living on the brink of death, deprived of family, sleep, food, and all the comforts they once had...months of living in the cold, the damp, the dark...months of torture by these lunatics, depending on them to live...forced to survive. Afraid of the light...too fragile to see what they've become...   
  
...Davis was right...Faith and Bosco are dead...they are the dead of the night.  
  
*** The End *** 


End file.
